What is with all of these videos posted showing
beautiful boats running at extremely fast speeds,
and no one wearing a life vest? It seems sort of
Darwinian to me, but I guess nothing bad ever happens.

Most of the chicks on these boats have giant fake tits, so they will float. No need for a life jacket.

You only have to have had one accident to learn. In our case, the Lifeline jacket clearly saved a life as the person ejected was knocked unconsious. Not only should all passengers have life jackets, but they should be Lifelines.

Lifelines for anything over 70 and a bag of cheap ass orange around the neck jackets to be coast guard compliant.

Don`t need one , I have a Cigarette. There rest of you should probably wear em starting at idle

For me it's a judgement call based mostly on the water conditions. If it's really bad or the water is very cold I vest up and so does everyone else. If anyone is a poor swimmer they are going to wear a vest. I encourage and like to see all passengers in a life vest. However if the water is not too bad I often deem the risk to be reasonable and forgo the vests.

I agree the Lifeline PR type of jacket is not much protection. However, the Lifeline race jackets are as good as it gets in an open cockpit boat. The USGC approved floatation devises are ok if you fall off a dock, are trolling, anchored or a cruiseing at low speed. What's going to save your ass if you are ejected at 60-90+ MPH? This is what this Forum should be considering.

So is this a good time to ask about the Onyx and Mustang auto-inflatables for sub-70mph use? I mean, I know they aren't Lifelines, but between my employment and my social life I've been in comparatively sketchier situations with less protection.

I always said at speeds over 100mph it only makes the dead body easier to find.

There have been a lot of people that have survived crashes at speeds of well over 100 MPH. Even without lifelines. More would have survived had they been wearing them.